It’s Not Easy Being Green
It’s been a looooong winter and as spring approaches, many of us may be feeling sluggish. Now may be the perfect time to do a liver detox and give our body’s detox pathways a break.
The human liver is a miraculous organ responsible for so many things. Namely, overall detoxification, producing digestive enzymes, changing glucose to glycogen, producing urea, filtering harmful substances from the blood (like alcohol), maintaining healthy blood glucose levels, cleaning the blood, relaxing our muscles, and detoxifying old hormones.
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) views spring as the time of the Liver. TCM calls the liver the "Father of all the organs," suggesting that the liver is the Grand Daddy that helps control our emotions. TCM also views the primary function of the liver to be storing blood – meaning it helps to regulate how much blood the body stores at any given time. I recommend doing a cleanse once or twice a year, but incorporating liver-supporting foods daily.
The Liver, and the Gall Bladder, are related to the spring season and are responsible for the relaxed and smooth flow of energy in the body, storing the blood, and detoxifying the blood. The liver and GB are in charge of the tendino-muscular connections governing the muscles, tendons and nerves. Good health and functioning of the liver helps our bodies to be more supple, flexible and pain-free. The liver also strengthens and nourishes the nails.
The sense organ associated with it is the eyes. When the liver blood is abundant, one is thought to see clearly. When the blood is weak our sight diminishes, we get dry eyes, blurry vision, red bloodshot eyes and many other eye problems.
Here are some symptoms of a possibly overloaded liver:
Feeling tired all the time or waking up sluggish in the morning and needing coffee to get going.
Waking up at night between 1-3 AM or generally sleeping poorly.
Abdominal bloating, stomach reflux, unable to lose weight, constipation, or poor digestion.
Frequent headaches, irritability, anger, or moodiness.
Allergies to everything around you, including dust, perfumes, foods, and possibly your spouse.
Menstrual/menopausal irregularities.
Here are some examples of diagnosis that can happen when your liver is struggling:
Cirrhosis
Fatty liver symptoms or fatty liver disease
Liver cancer
Liver pain
Liver spots
Autoimmune hepatitis
In springtime, liver energies are at their peak. This is the best season to support the liver, be mindful, do some therapeutic breathing, and cultivate good energy in our bodies.
Here are some tips and food ideas to help liven up and balance Liver Qi:
Exercise: The liver loves to move. Walking is one of the best things you can do for your body and mind. Sweating is a way to release toxins in superficial layers of the skin. Even 10 minutes a day makes a difference.
Rest: Although the light is getting longer, we still need to get adequate sleep in order to detoxify.
Manage Stress: Anger, frustration, sadness, and depression are all blocked emotions thought to originate in the liver. Managing our emotions by talking to a friend, journaling, or meditating are all ways to help with daily stresses.
Increasing Circulation: In order to detoxify, things have to be moving, including Qi, blood, and lymph. Acupuncture is highly effective at increasing circulation of all three. This is a good time to do an acupuncture tune-up to help get the liver energy activated and moving.
Take a Break: This is a good time of year to let go of stimulants like coffee, alcohol, tobacco and other additive drug-like substances.
Here are some liver supporting foods:
Greens: Green is the colour of the liver, and the fresh young greens that are soon to sprout are great to nourish your blood and move energy. Now is the time to start eating foods cooked more lightly (rather than the heavy soups and stews), and to eat less heavy foods in general.
Cruciferous Vegetables: These include broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cauliflower, and cabbage. They are very powerful detoxifiers of the liver. They have chemicals that neutralize certain toxins and help the liver produce the enzymes it needs for detoxification.
Lemon Juice: Drinking freshly squeezed lemon juice in a cup of warm filtered water first thing in the morning helps cleanse the liver and promote detoxification. It also stimulates bile production, cleanses the stomach and bowel, and stimulates your morning bowel movement.
Fruits with high levels of antioxidants: Prunes, raisins, blueberries, blackberries, strawberries, raspberries, plums, pink grapefruit, apples, and pears. Antioxidants help
Artichokes: They increase bile production. One of the jobs of bile is to remove toxins through the bowel, as well as unhealthy microorganisms.
Bitter Leafy Salad Greens: Things like dandelion, chicory, and endive also are good for liver function. The bitterness of these foods helps to stimulate bile flow.
Garlic: This contains allicin which is a sulfur-based compound needed by the liver for effective detoxification. Garlic helps the liver rid the body of mercury, microbes, and food additives.
Aim to incorporate these liver supporting foods into your daily routine, and you will be well on your way to a cleaner body and a more harmonious emotional state of wellbeing! When the liver is healthy, we are able to plan and organize our lives too.
